No thanks, Tim

Geov thanks Tim Eyman for I-900, the ballot measure under which the scathing Port of Seattle performance audit was conducted, but I just have to point out that I-900 was largely redundant, a bit overreaching, and merely superseded a long fought for performance audit bill that had just been passed by the legislature the previous spring. Yes, it was by far the least toxic of Eyman’s measures, but it was unnecessary, and thus I don’t think Tim deserves any thanks at all.

My main complaint about the I-900 is that its effectiveness entirely depends on the willingness of the State Auditor to use it, and use it judiciously. Performance audits can be a bitch to comply with, yet require the full cooperation of the target agency if they are to achieve the stated goal of uncovering new efficiencies. If agency employees perceive an audit is being used punitively or politically, it can quickly become a waste of taxpayer money in itself. Under I-900 there is little or no oversight of the Auditor’s office, a failing that could undermine the entire process should the office become heavily politicized. One can easily see a partisan auditor using his power under I-900 to harass public agencies and influence the public debate.

That said, I have long supported performance audits in theory, so much so that I made the trek to Olympia to testify on behalf of the bill that eventually passed. In fact, I would like to see the practice taken even further by routinely subjecting tax “preferences” (you know… tax breaks, exemptions, loopholes, etc.) to the process. If Tim weren’t such a hypocrite, I’d expect him to join me in that quest. I’m not holding my breath.

Goldy says: “If agency employees perceive an audit is being used punitively or politically, it can quickly become a waste of taxpayer money in itself.”

Then he has the audacity to lay all the ills and failings on Brian Sonntag’s office. Uhhhhhhhhhhh…, what a bunch of politically biased crap. Earth to Goldy? Earth to Goldy? Does intelligent life exist in his head? Only from the mind of Goldy.

IT’S THE COTTON PICKING LAW. IF THEY DON’T COMPLY HE CALLS IN OTHER AGENCIES LIKE THE ATTORNEY GENERAL. He can go to the newspaper and use the bully pulpit.

Wow Goldy, you really took your moron pills on this one. You hate Eyman so much that you just had to go negative today!

Puddy… you’ve got no fucking idea what a performance audit is, and how it’s conducted. It’s not merely a financial audit, it’s an audit of practices and policies intended to find new efficiencies, and as such requires the active cooperation and participation of those involved to be effective. It’s not a matter of just handing over the books; for a performance audit to achieve its full potential the subjects have to want it to succeed.

And, FYI, once the report is issued the audited agency is under no obligation to implement any of the recommendations. That’s the law.

Ummmm… Goldy again you are wrong. I was taught by Dr. W. Edwards Deming. Look up the good Dr. I have used him before on other threads. ISO 9000 and ISO 9001 are performance audits. Everything we did as a team to meet ISO was a performance audit. Nothing was skipped. And to keep the ISO 9000 or 9001 certification we had to continually perform performance audits.

You seem to be of the mindset that people will ignore the audit and not improve. This is why liberalism fails. Wholesome people want to improve. Silly lazy people with their hands out could care less about improving.

Now if they don’t implement the changes, that’s were the newspapers, TV and other lodmouth agencies come in. If after a performance audit the org chooses not to improve, fire their asses! Tell the newspapers and TV etc. why it’s happening.

If the law allows them to skate why wasn’t the law you so proudly went to Olympia to support written better. Or yet, why didn’t you trumpet like you do with Darcy Moonbat! the fact the law was flawed.

You see Goldy, there are things people do in their every day life to live and be productive you’ll never know because you sit in your chilly home wearing half gloves in front of your PC probably bought through the Goldy-thon guessing what others do for a living!

If you paid attention, I gave you hints on SQL programming which I charge BIG BUCKS FOR. If you paid attention I helped JSA with his network problem which I CHARGE BIG BUCKS FOR. If you paid attention I care for Carl Left Foot Grossman’s personal health. But you have Bush Derangement Syndrome. If it’s on the right it’s hated!

@4 (continued) Deming is a manufacturing efficiency engineer. His ideas are not appropriately applied to government process in a participatory democracy, where the goal is not streamlined processes, but inclusive and responsive processes. Government in which citizens participate, debate issues, and have a say in decision making is necessarily slow, cumbersome, and inefficient. We spend a lot of taxpayer money on public hearings, making government records available to the public, etc. None of this is economically efficient but all of it is essential to democracy.

Therefore, puddinghead, when you quote or cite Deming, please restrict your comments to the commercial production of consumer products, and leave government out of it, because Deming’s concepts have no place in discussions about government and governing.

From time immemorial, conservaties have argued they can make government work better for citizens and save taxpayers money by applying business management principles to public agencies. It doesn’t work. One of the best-known examples of this phenomenon was the ill-fated Grace Commission headed by businessman J. Peter Grace. The Grace Commission came up with hundreds of proposals to make the federal government more efficient, but virtually none of them were adopted. Why? Because they were impractical. The Grace Commission was made up of business people who didn’t understand the difference between business and government, and their “efficiency” suggestions were really policy arguments that went against the grain of what American voters wanted their government to do.

There’s a reason why public management isn’t taught in business schools, and why all universities that teach public management have separate schools of public management: They don’t mix. The concepts and techniques of successful management are different in business and government.

@11 I did a lot to improve things in this state by helping to elect Gregoire and a Democratic majority in the state senate. After getting rid of the obstructionist GOP majority in the senate, we’re finally doing something about this state’s transportation and education needs. Republicans are good for nothing.

When I drive down the street and see some big truck spewing out exhaust like there’s no tomorrow, I wonder why we have emissions tests at all. Why don’t we just blow off the emissions testing and get rid of a useless industry? And save some money and a lot of hassles, too!!

Politically Incorrect @23: So true. Search this site and see if Puddy didn’t ask this question of incorrectnotrightnottobright about a month or so ago. You’ll be surprised with his answer about us whom drive cars

So Goldy: I think Geov put it well: ‘The Dems passed a performance audit bill to head off Eyman’s initiative, but it didn’t give the Auditor’s office either the authority or resources that I-900 (not 960) did. Sonntag was able to do a much more broad-based audit with the budget I-900 gave him. So yes, Eyman deserves the credit. Wasting taxpayer money should be an issue all political ideologies can agree on as being a bad thing.”

Geov – Not Pelletizer (TM) in #5. He thinks it’s a waste of millions of $$$.

I guess this proves Goldy was ineffective with his “friends” in Olympia. So I wonder why Darcy Moonbat! trusts him so much.

First. No one really cares what you think. Second. When you deliver words to pixels there is nothing much except some Darwinistic rant. You prove you’re the missing link. Your science is correct. Your words prove your hypotheses prove you came from apes! Third. Christmasghost said you only had three brain cells. I think she was generous. You only have one. Fourth. When you create cogent thought let me know.

First. No one really cares what you think. Second. When you deliver words to pixels there is nothing much except some Darwinistic rant. You prove you’re the missing link. Your science is correct. Your words prove your hypotheses prove you came from apes! Third. Christmasghost said you only had three brain cells. I think she was generous. You only have one. Fourth. When you create cogent thought let me know.

If you got any closer to that mirror, you’d break it and cut yourself.

In December of 1998, the House of Representatives, through a bill authored by serial adulterer Henry Hyde, during a lame-duck session of Congress where Speaker and serial adulterer Newt Gingrich (who started up with a mistress while his wife was in the hospital with cancer) had to hand over his gavel to Ray LaHood, during a floor debate marred by the resignation of potential House Speaker candidate and serial adulterer Bob Livingston, voted to impeach the President of the United States for only the second time in American history. The count was 228-206 on the perjury charge, and 221-212 on obstruction of justice (two other counts failed). Being the anniversary week, C-SPAN decided to air large portions of the House debate.

I couldn’t stop watching.

You actually can read the transcripts here, but believe me when I tell you that the phony sanctimony from the Republicans is striking. I’ve never heard so many renderings of history, deep intoning about the Constitution and reverance for the rule of law come out in such a stream of pabulum in my life. Set against the background of the current Administration, which has lied us into war, spied on American citizens, tortured and indefinitely detained suspects without trial in secret sites all over the world, subverted the will of the people through deliberate deception, and brought this country to its knees, all in full view of many of these same lawmakers, the experience of watching them speak is almost otherworldly.

What the Republicans were actually doing is throwing a hissy fit. They saw in the Lewinsky case an opportunity to whine and cry and get a media predisposed to hating Bill Clinton on their side. After all, he came in and trashed the place, and it wasn’t his place. So they would use every rhetorical means at their disposal to make the impeachment about these abstract concepts of justice that they regularly ignore these days, so that they could mask the fact that they were trying to remove a President over a blow job, and among those voting to sustain that were Larry Craig, Mark Foley, Randy “Duke” Cunningham and the entire cast of sexual and moral deviants.

The media, not recognizing that the public largely didn’t care about Clinton’s infidelity as much as they cared about his policies, played the scandal to the hilt, using sensationalism for ratings glory, but also trying to cast a member out of their Village they prized so much, because the Clintons weren’t part of their gang. The endless series of blonde female prosecutors filled the cable nets, pundits of the kind of Chris Matthews sat around looking grim, and the High Broderists moaned about the “crisis” in Washington, which was the only place in the country there was a crisis, of course.

As I sit here and read this rapidly degenerating thread, I am surprised that no one has pointed out why this exposure will work even though technically the port does not really have to do anything about it, as Goldy said. Public outcry for this is huge. And when public outcry is like this, our government reacts (instead of acting proactively) to cover their butts. This has happened several times in the last couple months, with the ferry situation, the storm preparedness and most prominently with property taxes. Change is coming that should not have had too if people were paying attention to what was happening.

(PS-Goldy, you may not like Eyman, but always remember this saying: ‘The sun’s gotta shine on a dog’s ass sometime…’)

For all to see how Don Joe technically has reading and comprehension issues. Maybe he forgot the I900 law.

Let me help you Don Joe. Goldy’s only entry is post #3. I discuss my mentor W. Edwards Deming in post #4. So please regale us where “about the point Goldy makes in light of Deming’s principles”. He never comments on my post#4, Pelletizer (TM) tries to and fails miserably…

So Don Joe, Goldy comments were these: “Puddy… you’ve got no fucking idea what a performance audit is, and how it’s conducted. It’s not merely a financial audit, it’s an audit of practices and policies intended to find new efficiencies, and as such requires the active cooperation and participation of those involved to be effective. It’s not a matter of just handing over the books; for a performance audit to achieve its full potential the subjects have to want it to succeed.

And, FYI, once the report is issued the audited agency is under no obligation to implement any of the recommendations. That’s the law.” Regurgitation of HB 1064.

Now here is his law Goldy is proud of but first background:

Why was there an outcry for performance audits? The legislature wanted to raise our taxes by $8.5 billion on a gasoline tax increase. The Republicans asked for a DOT performance audit. So what did the democrats do? They created a audit bill that the Republicans agreed to. The Republicans in good faith passed the gas tax increase. Then around 19 of your liberal legislature friends balked at the performance audit bill and instead watered it down.

The legislature adopted a law – HB 1064. This law created a politically appointed citizen advisory board. This politically charged board would oversee all state auditor conducted performance audits. If you remember the wording of HB 1064, the state auditor was explicitly prohibited from DOT performance audits. [What a crock].

I-900 came into being due to democrat intransigence and double dealing. If you remember the liberal local MSM liked the bill just didn’t like initiative sponsor. And… 57% of the people disagree with Goldy, Don Joe, Pelletizer (TM), Leadhead Loosie (TM) and he who is identified below:

So Goldy places his hatred on Tim Eyman. I really think Goldy is jealous of Michael Dunmire because he’s rich.

Some people wonder why I purposely misspell Hillary Clinton as Hilary Cliton. The same reason you all spell his name Eyeman instead of Eyman.

Now…. back to the story. I900 put back the teeth of accountability and transparency into state audits. Also Don Joe being the liberal you are forgot Brian Sonntag’s quote: “Citizens expect openness and transparency from their government. They deserve this level of accountability.”

There is no need for this biased review board. See ya!

I900 says:”No legislative body, officeholder, or employee may impede or restrict the authority or the actions of the state auditor to conduct independent, comprehensive performance audits.” – So the explodes Goldy’s words “yet require the full cooperation of the target agency if they are to achieve the stated goal of uncovering new efficiencies.”

Next the part where Goldy stumbles big time: “For performance audits of local governments and their agencies, programs, and accounts, the corresponding legislative body must consider the state auditor reports in connection with its spending practices. An annual report will be submitted by the legislative body by July 1st of each year detailing the status of the legislative implementation of the state auditor’s recommendations. Justification must be provided for recommendations not implemented. Details of other corrective action must be provided as well.” – I said fire their asses if The Port impedes the audit results implementation.

Yet Don Joe your hero Goldy blogged: “And, FYI, once the report is issued the audited agency is under no obligation to implement any of the recommendations. That’s the law.”

Golly Goldy and Don Joe: I thought I900 was now the law of WA State land…

And… I like this part: “Revenues from the Performance Audits of Government Account, created in section 5 of this act, shall be used for the cost of the audits.

And… I like these parts too:

(f) Investigate improper governmental activity under chapter 42.40 RCW. (g) In addition to the authority given to the state auditor in this subsection (6), the state auditor is authorized to conduct performance audits identified in section 2 of this act. Nothing in this subsection (6) shall limit, impede, or restrict the state auditor from conducting performance audits identified in section 2 of this act.

Sec. 10. This act shall be called the Performance Audits of Government Act and takes effect December 8, 2005.

The Port of Seattle happens to be the one major state or local government entity in the area that is controlled by REPUBLICANS. Four out of five commissioners on the outgoing board were either admitted REPUBLICANS or endorsed by the King County REPUBLICAN Party and prominent REPUBLICANS. And the same can be said about four out of five commissioners that will be sitting on the port commissioner after the first of the year.

I say consolidate the Port of Seattle into King County government — especially since they have the same boundaries and taxing area. Let King County use the tax revenues currently received by the Port of Seattle for any lawful government purpose. Put the port under solid Democratic control, and we won’t see such huge waste of tax money and subsidy of big business. Maybe some of the $80 million (next year’s tax bite) of property taxes can be spent for human needs, not for subsidy of shipping interests.

Private companies in this state are required to participate in random audits. No excuses. If they are required to do so, then there’s no reason to not audit government agencies. They are the most rife with potential crap because everyone–and thus no one— owns it. The light of day must be shown to citizens as to what’s going on with their tax dollars.

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